Nicolas Cage's best movies

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)Nicolas Cage’s role in 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas gave him an early opportunity to show his crazy side, the very thing he would become known – and derided – for in his later (and not quite as good) films. But back then, the critics were kind; the performance earned him the Oscar for best actor, the gem in his acting crown. His character, Ben Sanderson, a Hollywood hack screenwriter, is fizzled out and depressed; his career is in tatters, if only due to his own addiction. He decides to leave it all behind and move permanently to Las Vegas in order to complete his downward spiral. While there, he meets Sera (Elizabeth Shue), a lost soul with a similarly epic case of the doldrums. Despite escorting each other toward mutual destruction, the two actually help each other to see some good in the world.